Aduro's Chosen
by Topaz Tsubasa
Summary: AU. Just think about it. If you had power over light or darkness, you'd be able to do a mighty lot of things. But what if it's the bad guy that has power over darkness, and the only one that can save everyone can't be found? Read on to find out! MxN RxR
1. Departing

_A/N: Well, here's the new and improved chapter one of AC! It's tons better and a lot longer. I feel like I really owe that to you guys for being out for so long. Blame my fudging DELL laptop, alright! For my birthday, I finally got a good laptop (which is a HUGE miracle, trust me) that isn't from the DELL series so I can count on it not failing on me. So, as one of my favorite bands the Black Eyed Peas say it, let's get it started!_

**Disclaimer: **_(Don't own Gakuen Alice! Whatsoever! It's kinda early to be saying witty phrases for a disclaimer anyway…)_

**REVISED! (because I re-read it and thought it was crap! ;)**

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**Departing.**

In the kingdom of Alberra, people were caught in a whirlwind of packing and most importantly, excitement. Why? That is because today was August the 17th. In other words, the day students and teachers with magic had to depart to the Academy of Magic, the safe haven and learning place for those who were born with magic coursing through their veins. As such, the excitement began. Little children were running back and forth to their parents with their favorite toys and belongings to pack while their unfortunate parents had to sort through the mess. Older kids mostly spent their day in a flurry of excitement, waiting for the heffling carriages to arrive. The teachers had their own fair share of excitement, with the school year finally almost starting and the end of their boring teacher-summer. Even those who didn't have magic were glad for their friends who were leaving and were treasuring moments together. Simply put, everyone was happy. That is, everyone except 16 year old Mikan Sakura.

You see, Mikan was one of the people that didn't have magic. Her best friend since they were very small – Hotaru Imai – did. So currently, Mikan, still clad in her pajamas, was sulking in a dark corner of her room, her light brown hair covering most of her face.

In her hand she held a small, white, glass flower in the shape of a bell flower that she had bought some time ago. Remembering that day, Mikan sighed. She, Hotaru, her mother Yuka, and Luna – Yuka's best friend that was like an aunt to Mikan – had spent the day walking around and shopping in Romahn. Mikan had spotted the flower in a vender's stall. She immediately suggested she and Hotaru buy it so they would have something to share from their fun day. Hotaru had almost refused because she would lose money (she loved money even back then), but seemed to grow on to the idea and got it anyways. Mikan had been ecstatic. She bit back another sigh. It seemed like such a long time ago. She was about to continue in her sulking until the door opened. Mikan perked up. Standing there was her mother, calmly staring at her with a hand lightly placed on the door frame.

"Mikan, are you going to stay in here all day? I thought you wanted to say goodbye to Hotaru." Her mother's eyes roamed lightly around her small bedroom.

"Ah, Hotaru! She's leaving today…" Mikan looked back down at her delicate flower. Her mother would understand. She'd help her.

"I know you're sad about Hotaru leaving, but don't you think she's sad that she has to go as well?" Mikan didn't look up even as her mother's steps came closer.

"I know she's sad. I just don't know right now…" Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother kneel beside her.

"Since you're both sad, won't you both be even sadder if she leaves without you saying goodbye?" Her mother placed her hand on her shoulder. "She'll be spending all that time in the Academy and they won't let her out for anything. I don't think either of you would be happy with her leaving on such a sad note."

Mikan's eyes widened. Really, she hadn't thought of that. Hotaru was leaving for a long time because she'd never attended before this year. She couldn't stand not being able to see her for so long. She at least wanted to see her one last time before she left. "Ok, I'll go, but on one condition. You have to come with me."

Two pairs of chocolate brown eyes met; one bright and hopeful, the other gentle and caring. "Gladly."

With the help of her mother, Mikan had gotten ready for the day. In less than half an hour the both of them were outside and walking to Hotaru's house. Mikan was wearing her favorite outfit of all time, one she wore as much as she possibly could. It was a sleeveless pink dress that went down to her mid-thigh with a zip up, short-sleeved white jacket over it. Two other pairs of smaller zippers were positioned vertically on each side of the main zipper. Clad on her feet were a pair of white boots, matching the design of the jacket. She had a headband with a zipper running through the middle, matching the jacket and boots, in her wavy, just past the shoulder, chestnut hair. Lastly, she wore simple white gloves on her hands. The reason why she liked this outfit so much was because she could move very freely in it and it was perfect for the hot climate of her home village, Teralane.

Mikan looked down at her hands, which were clasped together at her waist. Hotaru's magic affinity was centered around inventing, and there weren't many people like that. Also, she was a complete genius – even for an inventor. She'd made so many things even though she'd never even been near the Academy of Magic, let alone trained. This all made her an incredibly valuable person and the Academy had wanted her to attend for years. She didn't go for Mikan, but now she had to because she'd finally reached the age limit for people with magic to not attend. Attending the Academy of Magic was mandatory for those who had magic and the age limit to enroll was at 16, which she turned last October. That was why when she finally went to the Academy she would probably be so busy she wouldn't be able to leave.

There had to be something Mikan could do about it. Anything. She looked at her mother, hoping that she would catch her telepathic help signal.

Wavy waist-length brown hair swaying in the breeze, her mother caught it. "Do you need any help?"

Eyes brightly shining, Mikan replied. "Mom, since Hotaru will be leaving for a long time, I really want to do something for her. The problem is – I don't know what to do."

Yuka thought a little bit and smiled. "Mikan, that's not something that I can help you with. The answer is with you." She turned her head back and continued looking forward.

Mikan's eyebrows furrowed and she looked back down to her hands. She then caught the sunlight reflected off the glass flower that was wedged in between her clasped hands. Then something finally clicked in her brain. That's it! That's what she would do!

Mikan looked up and realized they were nearly at the Imai's property. Her heart sank when she saw the luggage being placed outside by Amanatsu, a friendly robot Hotaru had made after Mikan some years ago.

Immersed in her work, Amanatsu kept moving luggage. She only noticed Mikan and her mother enough to mutter a simple "hi." Mikan smiled back anyways and walked to Hotaru's wooden front door. Taking a deep breath first, she reached her hand out to open it, only for it to be opened by someone else.

Hotaru's mother was a very pretty woman, with shining black hair running down her back and a friendly smile that seemed permanently etched onto her face. She invited Mikan and her mother inside with smiles and hugs, though she seemed to be in a daze while doing so. Sadly, her sunny behavior didn't seem to be in Hotaru's end of the gene pool.

As they walked down the hallway and turned to the living room, Mikan heard several voices – including Hotaru's – talking about the Academy and certain aspects about it to take note of. Right before entering, Mikan felt something in the air change.

Sitting on the couch adjacent to Mikan was Hotaru, her boy-cut raven hair draped messily in front of her eyes. She, like Mikan, was in her favorite outfit. It consisted of a black tank top that reached just over her belly button, and black loose fitting pants that were held up by a black belt and tucked into black boots, with simple black gloves as well. Her signature "inventing" goggles that she always carried with her at all times rested around her neck. Mikan had always thought it was ridiculous to wear that much black in their village, but it seemed like Hotaru didn't care.

Her father was sitting on another couch, appearing to have the same dazed expression as Hotaru's mother. He stared at a very queer looking person wearing very frilly purple clothes with wavy blonde hair and lavender eyes rather weirdly. The lavender-eyed person looked at them. Now Mikan's mother seemed to have fallen in the same daze that Hotaru's parents were in.

"Hey Hotaru! Uh, what's going on?" Mikan asked apprehensively, looking back and forth between Hotaru's father and the two women standing at her side.

Before Hotaru could say anything, the lavender-eyed person spoke. "Oh, just demonstrating a few things for Hotaru here."

Mikan smiled. This person seemed to be very friendly – even though for some reason, she couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl. On the other hand, Hotaru was very annoyed, though she didn't show it. It seemed she didn't like it when others spoke for her. She glared at the lavender-eyed person and spoke. "Excuse us for a bit."

"Oh, go ahead." He said with a flourish. "I'll just wait for you right here. I'm looking forward to having a nice little chat with your friend."

Hotaru's amethyst eyes narrowed slightly. She grabbed Mikan's arm and half dragged-half led her to another door. It led to a staircase that brought them down to Hotaru's room and lab area. Mikan felt something weird in her chest as she stared at the now-bare lab. Before, it was littered with tools, metal trinkets, and doodads everywhere you stepped and all over the tables and shelves. Now it was completely empty; a sign that the occupant would no longer be there. Mikan shuddered.

"Hotaru, what are we doing down here when everyone else is up there?" Mikan asked. Hoping to get rid of the feeling, Mikan pulled her arm out of Hotaru's grasp and wrapped both of her arms around herself.

"I wanted to talk to you away from that person. He's a man, by the way," Hotaru said, walking in between tables and chairs that were neatly placed there by Amanatsu.

"Thanks! I was wondering what he was…" Mikan, still slightly perplexed that it almost seemed as if Hotaru read her mind, sat down on one of the chairs. Hotaru did the same and sat across from her.

"Wait, why can't we talk around that man? He seemed nice."Mikan looked at Hotaru questioningly.

Hotaru shook her head. "Everything's not as it seems, Mikan. That man is actually a teacher at the Academy of Magic. Apparently I'm 'special' so they sent one of their workers to 'escort' me." Hotaru smiled wryly. "They're probably trying to make sure that I actually go to the Academy and that I don't stay."

Mikan looked down. "Hotaru, once you get to the Academy, it'll be a really long time until you get back out, right?"

"Yeah…" After that they fell into a deafening silence. It would have gone on for longer had Mikan not remembered what it was that she wanted to do. She took out her delicate little flower.

"Hotaru," Mikan said, drawing Hotaru's attention.

"Remember this?" She held out the flower for Hotaru to see. "It's the flower that we bought in Romahn a long time ago. I want you to have it so that when you're in the Academy making your inventions, you can think of little old me back in your small home village."

Hotaru didn't say anything as Mikan opened her hand and placed the small flower on it. Finally after looking at the flower for a while, Hotaru walked around the table to Mikan and hugged her. "Thank you. I will."

With teary eyes, Mikan separated from Hotaru. "Come on. We can't keep everyone waiting!" Mikan smiled the best she could and Hotaru gave her a small smile in reply. The both of them then climbed up the stairs and walked into the living room to a very strange sight.

"What the…?" Mikan murmured, almost sounding horrified.

Hotaru's father, who was a very respectable man, was dancing ridiculously; arms and legs flying everywhere like rubber noodles, nearly breaking more than a few important items in the room. But instead of Hotaru and Mikan's mothers telling him to stop, they were cheering him on?

"Oh! So glad you could join the party!" The Academy's teacher said, clapping his hands together enthusiastically. Okay, so maybe this man was more than a little weird, Mikan thought.

Then, in a very threatening tone (which was unusual for Hotaru, seeing as she was more on the stoic side), Hotaru said, "Stop it. _Now_."

The man didn't even look the least bit frightened. Then, all of a sudden, Hotaru's father stopped dancing and the cheering stopped.

"Um, what just happened?" Mikan asked, obviously confused.

"Oh, that was me." The man did a one-handed jazz-hand. "My name is Narumi L. Anjo. I'm a teacher at the Academy of Magic!" He stood up and walked – more like skipped – to where Mikan was standing and held out his hand for her to shake.

She took it and said, "My name is Mikan Sakura. I…don't really have magic." She rubbed the back of her head with her free hand bashfully. Most people she met assumed that she had magic because her genius best friend did.

"Oh, are you completely sure about that?" Mikan and Hotaru looked at Narumi questioningly.

"As you can see, I'm still demonstrating how powerful my magic has gotten, thanks to going to the Academy." He pointed out their parents. "But, Mikan here," he winked at her, "seems to be completely unaffected."

Hotaru's eyes widened a tiny fraction. "I thought that was on purpose," she whispered.

Mikan was speechless. A very powerful magician that was so strong that he became a teacher that taught magic, and could ensnare three different people and more at the same time in his spell – and his magic didn't even affect her in the slightest? What did that mean?

"I'll have to test this out. Don't worry, this test will be harmless, Mikan," he reassured her, eyes twinkling.

"If it's so harmless –" Hotaru was suddenly cut off as she fell into the same daze as the others. Although, it was so strong that her feet gave out and she landed on her bum, staring at Narumi with a dreamy expression.

"Hotaru!" Mikan raced to Hotaru's side. Seeing Hotaru like this was difficult, because she hardly ever really showed her emotions. If it was this bad with Hotaru, she didn't want to turn around and see the adults.

"Oh, don't worry, she's fine. But I think this is a very big discovery. You," he twirled gaudily, "have magic!"

Mikan stared at him. He stood, swaying in his spot waiting for her reaction. Still, she stared at him. Ability to talk all but lost, she choked out, "I…have magic?"

"What?" Hotaru exclaimed. Everyone was out of their trances and staring at Mikan in surprise.

"Yes, you have magic." Narumi smiled widely at her. "And if I'm right, a very special kind of magic, too."

All of a sudden, Mikan felt very light-headed. Before she could fall to the floor, her mother caught her and guided her to the couch. "I think I need a drink…" Mikan muttered, hand on her forehead. Yuka nodded and disappeared through the door.

"I have a little bit of things to discuss with your mother, Mikan. I'll be right back," Narumi followed after Mikan's mother.

Hotaru's mother sat next to Mikan and started fanning her. "You need to get yourself together, Mikan. I mean, you're going to the Academy of Magic!"

That was when Mikan froze. And then it all sunk in. She immediately shot up and started jumping up and down happily. "Oh my gosh, I can go to the Academy of Magic! _I_ can go to the Academy of Magic! Me! I can go to the _flippin' Academy of Magic_!"

Mikan was then brutally brought down from her giddy high by a hit to her head that sent her flying straight back into the couch. "Oww," she said, clutching her head.

"Baka Gun," Hotaru said stonily, holding a smoking gun shaped in her hand. "It's just a prototype and not anywhere near done, but I won't hesitate to shoot again if you don't stop freaking out."

Mikan rubbed her head where a small bump was beginning to form. "Hotaru, you meanie!"

Yuka ran into the room, glass of water in hand. "What is going on –" Ms. Imai's leg was jutting out in her sitting position and Mikan was reminded of where she got her clumsiness from as Yuka tripped on it – and all the cold water in the glass spilled right onto Mikan.

Mikan jumped and yelped. "AH! C-Cold! Very, very cold!" She heard the very definite snort of laughter from Hotaru's direction and really wished the inventor would have something that could dry her off in an instant.

"Oh, Mikan I'm so sorry!" Yuka set the glass cup on the wooden table. "Let me get you a towel…"

Narumi stepped back into the room. Assessing the situation quickly, he said, "Oh, let me handle that Miss Yuka." He waved his hand and all of the water quickly evaporated from Mikan's clothes.

She looked down and grasped her dress. "It's all gone! It's – dry!"

"Just a little bit of minor magic. Nothing big," Narumi said, checking a watch he pulled out of his pocket. "It's getting late. We really should leave now. I made all the negotiations just as you said Miss Yuka." Narumi looked up at Mikan. "I took the liberty of transporting the things I thought you would want here from your room. They're already in the carriage." He motioned his hand towards the door that led them outside. "Shall we?"

"Wait, I need to give you something, Mikan." Yuka reached in her brown pouch and revealed a small box that Mikan remembered seeing as she grew up, but it never occurred to her to open it and see what it contained.

"I carry this with me almost everywhere I go. Your father Izumi would be very proud. He would want you to have this." Her mother opened the box and Mikan gasped. Inside was the most beautiful necklace Mikan had ever seen. The chain on it was pure shining silver, and the pendant was a pink crystal with two intricately carved silver wings on the each side. Encased inside the crystal was a delicate pink cherry blossom petal that reminded her of spring.

Mikan was stunned beyond words as Yuka placed the necklace around her neck. It felt right, like it was meant to be there.

"This is the Sakura family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. Now it's yours." She rotated Mikan so that she faced her. "Whenever you want to see me, just look at this necklace and I'll be there with you at heart. Like this, no matter where I am, I'll always be with you."

Tears were now streaming down both of their faces, and the others were already long gone, waiting outside by the carriage. For the second time that day, Mikan felt like she had completely lost the ability to talk. After a couple of tries, she finally managed to say something.

"Thank you, Mom. I'll take care of it, I promise." Mikan said, holding onto the necklace tightly. She hugged her mother tightly, wishing for all the world that she didn't have to go now, or that she could take her mother with her to the Academy. Then, Mikan started sobbing into her mother's shoulder.

"Shh, it's alright." Yuka said softly, comforting her with her words.

"I just- I just feel like if I go, I w-won't ever see you ag-gain." Mikan continued crying into her mother's shoulder as she stroked her back.

"It's okay Mikan. Remember your necklace. As long as you have that, I'll always be with you." They separated and Yuka wiped the tears from her daughter's face. "You've got a carriage to catch, Mikan." She led Mikan out of the house and to the heffling carriage. Hotaru was inside it, having already said goodbye to her parents. Narumi was trying to keep his distance from the red-scaled heffling tied by the reigns. Apparently, he didn't like baby dragons much.

When they were in front of the carriage door, Mikan nearly started crying again. "Bye Mom. I love you, and I'll miss you a lot."

Yuka's eyes softened. "Goodbye Mikan. I love you, too. When you get to the Academy, remember; make as many friends as possible. Friends are the key to having a strong heart. Your friends are your power."

They hugged once again. At last, it was time to leave, so Mikan ended the hug there and climbed into the carriage next to Hotaru. Narumi then turned the locks on all the doors and got in his driver's seat at the front. As he drove the heffling up into the sky, Mikan turned to speak to Hotaru.

"Hotaru, we're going to see them all again, aren't we?" Mikan asked her, a sudden anxiety taking her heart.

"Of course we will, stupid." She replied back, looking at the village get smaller and smaller by the second.

Mikan learned not to be offended whenever Hotaru insulted her a long time ago, so she just said thanks and turned herself around so she could see outside as well.

Through the window that let you see the driver's seat from the carriage, Narumi called back to them. "Since Magien is so far away, we probably won't get to the Academy of Magic until night time."

"Okay, thanks." Mikan replied to him, cringing slightly at how long it would take them to get there, seeing as it was only two hours before noon. Mikan turned back to the window, watching the village where she grew up get smaller and smaller, until she could no longer see it from above the clouds.

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7 hours and 3 rest stops later, Mikan looked down from high in the sky and recognized a city she'd familiarized herself with a long time ago. "Narumi!" She yelled. "It's Romahn! Can we please, _please_ make a small stop there? I know where to go; I just need to buy something! It'll be quick, I promise!"

Narumi sighed dramatically from the driver's seat. "Fine, but it better be quick. We're on a tight schedule here."

Mikan told Narumi where to land and two minutes later they were on the ground. Mikan woke up Hotaru and told her where they were.

"Romahn? Why are we here?" She asked, annoyed at being woken up only to find out that they weren't even at their destination yet.

"You'll see!" Mikan said, bolting out of the door as soon as Narumi unlocked it, with Hotaru following afterward, though not as fast.

They walked down the busy street that was filled with all sorts of stalls and people. Finally, Mikan spotted what it was she was looking for. It was the vending stall from all those years ago. As they stood before it, all the annoyance had gone from Hotaru's face. Mikan turned to her.

"Instead of having just one, why don't we just get matching ones?" Mikan asked, smiling brightly. Hotaru's eyes glittered slightly with realization. A small smile playing on her lips, Hotaru nodded back. So together, just like that day years ago, they bought a delicate little glass flower.

When they got back to the carriage, Mikan looked down at her new glass flower, an exact replica of the white one she had before. She tucked it into her small travelling bag and once again, they were in the sky.

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6 and ¾ hours and 2 rest stops later, Narumi called back to them again from the driver's seat. "We're here," he said excitedly, even though it was so late.

Mikan groggily looked outside the window and realized with a jolt that Narumi was telling the truth. Standing proudly before them was a big metal gate surrounded by huge brick wall that continued so far Mikan could barely see where it ended from where she was. On the gate in gold big letters, were the words **The Academy of Magic**.

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Somewhere out there, curiously placed in the middle of a room, was a white wall. On the top left corner of the wall was a poster featuring a red-scaled heffling. On the bottom corner, a white fluffy ball was placed on a wooden stool. This appeared to be a seemingly normal TV set.

Then, the fluff ball moved. And very surprisingly, it started jumping up and down on the stool all on it's own. After a couple of hops it stopped and stretched out in a bright light. The creature still looked round, but at the top of it's head it had very long ears that were even longer than it's body with small blue jewels at the ends, and it had small, round feet that poked out from under it. Soon afterward, the creature revealed it's oddly shaped blue eyes; they were like rectangles, but the top and bottom eye lids curved slightly upward. Looking at it now, this strange creature was actually very adorable. Then, as if it was going to talk, it opened it's mouth, revealing ironic razor-sharp fangs.

"Hey-Hey!" It yelled in a cute, childish voice. "Welcome to Xuly's Corner! I'm your host, Xuly! Pronounced shoo-ley."

Then, out of nowhere, Xuly pulled out a long wooden pointer stick, holding it with his large left ear. "What's Xuly's Corner for? It's for my special insider's information, of course!"He tilted his head upward cockily. "Because I'm awesome, and you lovely readers deserve to know me."

"Today, we're going to talk about hefflings, which are baby dragons, as you learned today." He pointed the stick at the poster. "This is the heffling that flew Mikan and Hotaru to the Academy of Magic. It's a member of the Drülin tribe, one of many, _many_ dragon tribes out there. This dragon tribe sends their hefflings to the Academy of Magic in exchange for precious gold that the Academy mines from the West."

He then brought the pointer to it's wings. "These wings are nice and strong, specially designed to fly long distances." Bringing the pointer down to it's legs, he continued. "Their legs have strong muscles, designed for being able to take off and land easily, as well as use their sharp claws to capture their prey."

His entire body shuddered. "Hey, if you think only the heffling is special, wait until you see a _full grown_ dragon. That," he twirled his pointer around dramatically, "is what I call special."

Then, as if he had received some sort of news, his long ears perked upwards and the pointer disappeared mysteriously from his grasp. "Well, it's almost time for me to go! Here's my exclusive preview of the next chapter!"

"Mikan's finally gotten to the Academy of Magic! Now, the question is, will she like it or not? And how will she cope with being away from her mother for so long, when she's never even separated from her for longer than a full day? Tune in to the next **Aduro's Chosen: The Academy of Magic** to find out! Bye-Bye!"


	2. The Academy of Magic

_A/N: I'm back with another chapter! Sorry it was so so so so so so so so so __**late**__! So many things in my life have been happening lately, I don't even know how I _survived_. I've been hardly ever able to write and I feel horrible about it. In fact, it really stressed me out a lot. But a friend of mine told me that writing is a past-time, not a chore, so I feel a lot better about it. Thanks, Laika! __But then, the worst happened. MY FRICKIN' MICROSOFT WORD GOT MESSED UP AND WOULDN'T TAKE MY PRODUCT KEY! Turns out, you really DO need one for word to function. I found out that my word was actually a bad egg 'cause I tried out more than one completely valid product key on it and it didn't accept any of them. When that happens, you're supposed to return it and get a new one but because my luck is just THAT rotten, I found out waaaaaay after I even got my laptop so I couldn't just get a new one. Thank you to those who reviewed and to those who just subscribed…well…REVIEW!_

_**None of you noticed last chapter how I mistook Amanatsu's name for Amaterasu. It's been corrected now, of course, but it's still kinda embarrassing. (amaterasu is that black fire sharingan attack from NARUTO. Yeah, I think I might've watched a little **__**too**__** much of it at the time...)**_

**Disclaimer: **_(Gakuen Alice will be mine when those god-forsaken kids actually give the rabbit his trix[poor rabbit!].)_

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**The Academy of Magic**

Mikan's heart pounded hard in her chest as Narumi pulled the carriage past the gates. She clasped her hands together on her lap and tried to sit still – she couldn't stop fidgeting whenever she got nervous and she could see it was bothering Hotaru. She tried to keep herself together while waiting for Narumi to finally stop the carriage so she could see where it was she would be staying for the next couple of months. After about ten minutes, the carriage came to a stop in front of a big, circular building.

"Alright girls, hop out!" Narumi said as he unlocked both of the doors on the side of the carriage. "The Academy's interior decorating team set and prepared the both of your rooms while we were on our way here."

"We have an interior decorating team?" Mikan said while stepping off the carriage. She was honestly surprised something like that would be at a school, even if it was the Academy of Magic.

Narumi smiled as he walked to the back of the carriage and opened it, revealing all of their luggage. "Yes, we do. When the team isn't decorating, they manage the dorms. Hmm," he tapped his chin and thought about how to bring it all inside. "You know what? I don't feel like carrying these bags all the way up to your dorms." He snapped his fingers and they were all gone.

Hotaru immediately rounded up on him. "Gay-Naru, what did you do to our stuff?" She fixed a scary glare at him. Seeing the bags with all of her precious inventions disappear right before her eyes wasn't exactly the most pleasant of experiences for her.

"Relax, I just transported them all to your dorms, like I did with Mikan's bags earlier today." He smiled enthusiastically, not the least bit affected by her insult.

Hotaru still wasn't comfortable with seeing her work vanish so her glare stayed adamantly fixed onto him.

Narumi just indicated to the building with his hand. "Shall we enter?"

Hotaru walked to the big wooden doors, eager to get to her dorm and set up her lab so she could work as soon as tomorrow came. "Hurry up. I have things to do before I sleep, and you keeping me awake like this isn't helping."

She opened the doors and nearly stopped dead in her tracks. When Mikan walked up behind her, she saw why.

They were in a tall, huge, circular hall, with two curved staircases to the left and to the right of the hall that led to the next level. Attached to the walls were many stone arches with very intricate and complicated designs, matched with the design of the wooden railings of the staircases, with metal torches attached to each arch. Hanging from the ceiling was a very beautiful, but also very big glass chandelier. Powered by magic, each and every glass on the chandelier glowed, brightly illuminating the entire hall and second level. Behind a wooden railing that prevented those on the second level from falling were rather spaced out doors with symbols of different animals and insects like a lady bug or a turtle on them, all leading to hallways with the entrances to student's dorms, as they found out from Narumi.

Mikan gasped. In awe, she half-whispered, "What in the world..."

"This is the high school dorm's ground hall," Narumi explained, assuming the role of 'dorm tour guide'. "For some reason, the school's creators felt especially inclined to fix this dorm's hall with as much grandeur as possible. All of the others just have normal hotel-lobby-ish halls."

Mikan nodded, still admiring a view she thought would not look out of place in a fairy-tail palace.

Then, in a place so high above them that none of them noticed, a pure little fairy-like glow appeared. It danced around gleefully, seemingly radiated happiness. Then another glow just like it appeared. Then another, and another, and another. Soon, the entire hall was filled with the little glows, each completely pure and innocent – like a little child. All Mikan could do was stand, transfixed at what was occurring before her. Hotaru wasn't exactly that far off. It seemed as though this place enjoyed amazing them to the point of speechlessness.

Tour-guide-Narumi smiled knowingly at their surprise and explained this strange phenomenon. "These little guys like to come here once in a while. No one knows why they do, or what they even are. One day, a scholar got sick of their namelessness and dubbed them incendia, but we lovingly call them cendies."

Hotaru nodded and turned her attention to Mikan – something was happening to her there. To Mikan's joy, a cendy had landed on her shoulder. It was as if it was letting all the others know it was okay, because soon more and more cendies surrounded Mikan and danced around her in a rhythm known only to them. But that didn't stop Mikan. The cendies resurfaced the childish joy that she knew she hadn't felt in years and she couldn't contain herself; she just danced along with them – if you could call it dancing. It was more jumping around and spinning, but she was enjoying it – and surprisingly – so were the cendies.

All good things must come to an end though, so in the same manner they came, the cendies disappeared one by one until the last was the one on her shoulder. Even though Mikan had that one cendy, she was still sad to see all the others go.

Narumi looked at Mikan brightly – he looked like he had just made a huge discovery. "Those cendies must really like you. Normally, they wouldn't even try to go near anyone. Which means – I was right! You are special!" Narumi did a little victory dance.

Hotaru shook her head. She should've known that was why he was acting like that. Self-accomplishment of knowing he guessed something right, even if it highlighted someone else. Maybe Narumi was a tiny bit narcissistic…

Mikan hurried to them as Narumi walked to the staircase on the right. "This way to your dorms," he said.

"As you can see, the ground hall is very big, but once we leave these levels, most of the fanciness is left behind." He pointed out all the doors on the second level and continued.

"Normally the students that arrive to school the earliest get these dorms. You don't have to get here on August 17th, but it's still when most people come here."

Mikan caught up to Narumi quickly, half-wishing that she had discovered about her magic sooner so that she could be in these dorms. She looked at the cendy on her shoulder and wondered why the mysterious creature was there in the first place when all the others could barely go near her without it. She shook her head and made herself focus on where Narumi was going.

Hotaru followed after her – she would have to find the people who made this place after she became rich and left this school. Narumi turned left to the wooden doors that were right between the two staircases, which they found out led to the stairs that brought you to other levels.

After climbing two flights of stairs, Narumi walked to another set of wooden doors with the number 3 above them. "This is the third level, where your dorms are. Be glad, Mikan. Your uncle Kazu and Luna pulled quite a few strings to set you up this fast, let alone in the room next to Hotaru's."

Probably mourning the end of his tour-guide buzz, Narumi's tone changed to melodramatic. "Oh, I'm afraid this is my last stop girls! Aw, I probably won't see you until school starts in two weeks!"

"I'll miss you two so much; especially you, Mikan. You're such a darling." He flourished in a borderline over exaggerated manner that only he could pull off.

Hotaru scoffed, obviously annoyed. Mikan on the other hand, was touched and bought into his act. "Thank you, Mr. Narumi! I'll miss you too!"

"Who's going to show us our dorms?" Hotaru asked in a monotone. Honestly, this teacher talked way too much for her liking.

Narumi, who was in the midst of turning around when she asked, replied. "Why Takahashi, of course! She's the dorm's robotic rector, made by one of our very own. Adieu, girls!" He bid them good bye and left down the stairs, the sound of the second level door closing echoing throughout the staircase.

Then, as if on cue, the third level doors opened. Standing there was a short, plump metallic robot in the typical floor-length maid uniform. She reminded them of the cute old ladies in the children's picture books the teachers always used to read in school when they were little.

"Good evening, ladies. My name is Takahashi. If you need anything regarding your dormitories, I am the one to ask. Come along here, dearies. It's a very late hour, and you must be so weary from your travel." The robot talked in a gentle old voice, yet robotic at the same time.

Hotaru naturally took it all in stride, but Mikan was still a little surprised to see a robot that wasn't Amanatsu. "Oh, that Narumi. It was him that brought you girls here, wasn't it? He always comes at the latest time possible. My, is that a cendy on your shoulder?" Takahashi ushered Mikan in through the doors, as Hotaru had already gone in the moment Takahashi mentioned the hour.

True to Narumi's word, the third level wasn't as grand as the second and first – but it was still very cozy. The hall looked more like a common room, with a set of numerous red couches and tables around the room, some of them near a fire place that was directly across from the entrance. A red carpet covered the floor, complementing the color of the couches. The walls were painted a homey crème, a great contrast to the furniture, with spread out doors all leading to their dorms.

Because Takahashi didn't have legs, she rolled to the fourth door to the right that featured a symbol of a firefly. She informed them about how she was created a long time ago to serve the Academy as the high school dormitory's lead housekeeping advisor. Using her mechanical arm she opened the door and led them to the end of the hallway that it revealed. On the walls there were five doors – two to each side and one at the end. Each had a firefly symbol and the numbers 30-34, respectively.

"Here we are." She pointed at the second door to the right. "Hotaru, your room is Firefly-33." She handed Hotaru her dorm keys and then pointed to the final door at the end of the hall. "Firefly-34 is yours, Mikan. I hope the two of you would find how the interior decorating team made your rooms very endearing. Now remember, if you need anything involving your dorms, you need only ask and I will help you. Good night."

As soon as Takahashi finished talking Hotaru went straight to her door and jammed the key into the doorknob, opening it and leaving poor Mikan flabbergasted behind her. Still quite surprised at Hotaru's sudden leave without a goodbye, Mikan turned her head to her new friend.

"Well – here goes nothing." She unlocked her own door, stepped inside, and gasped.

It was made as a one room bedroom apartment complex, and she was standing in the living room. Her walls were painted light orange with tangerine halves and quarters along them, and a drop of the fruit's juice here and there. Her couch was bold orange and had white cushions that matched the lush, white carpet.

What really caught her attention wasn't the room, though. She knew it was great and could tell that her uncle arranged for all of it, but she couldn't believe that a nice, big telescreen was sitting there, right across her couch, in her own dorm!

Telescreens were very rare not only because they cost a lot to make and used a lot of parts, but they also took a lot of magic to power. They were items of the rich. She'd only ever known of them because she'd seen one in one of the mayor's house parties that her mother was supposed to attend – she didn't have a clue as to what it was so she had asked Hotaru about it afterward.

Mikan was pushed out of her awed reverie when the cendy lifted off of her shoulder and darted through the door to her right.

"Hey, wait!" She darted through the door after it but slowed to a stop once she took two steps inside the room. She felt her eyes water. It was her old room; the one she'd had at her house. Her uncle Kazu arranged it so that she wouldn't feel so homesick. It was the same exact thing – her bed right up against the middle of the pink wall across the door – the closet in the corner right next to the bed so she wouldn't have to walk much in the morning – her dresser right across the bed for the same exact reason. It was exactly the same, straight down to the little orange juice stain on the carpet that she put there when she was twelve.

How did they pull this off? Did her uncle Kazu really know her that well? He certainly didn't show it. Kazu was the silent and observant type – he always stood back and watched everyone else have fun. But whenever someone forced him into the spotlight, he shined. It was mostly because he wanted to get out of it as quickly as he could, but nobody said anything because it was how he became the high school principal in the first place.

Her thoughts were cut off once again when the cendy floated to her and placed itself lightly on her nose. Mikan felt her mind burst with childish joy yet again. She felt giddy and so energetic that she bet she could run straight to Romahn and not even be the least bit tired. A small little part of her mind recognized that it was because the cendy was touching her that she was so giddy. It was like she could feel what it felt when it touched her. But under all that giddiness she felt the small undertone of wanting her to 'cheer up' because her eyes were 'leaking.' She giggled. It really was like a little kid.

Then the moment ended when the cendy sensed she was alright again and flew off her nose. Mikan felt the day's events catch up with her. She changed into her pink, fluffy pajama set and went through the other door in the living room that led to the kitchen to get herself her customary drink of water before going to bed.

The kitchen was narrow and had a little tidbit of the tangerine theme as well, with the drawers and cabinets having tangerine-half handles. The rest was all white, save for the wooden door in the back corner that Mikan guessed led to the bathroom. A wooden bi-fold table was propped up against it for her to eat her meals on.

But Mikan wasn't really paying much attention to her surroundings and her mind felt hazy so she went straight for the water dispenser on the refrigerator with a cup from a cabinet, not bothering to read the note taped on the door. She'd read it tomorrow. She drank her water in big gulps and went straight back to her room, hitting the bed feeling like dead weight. The last thing she remembered was her mother's last words to her.

_When you get to the Academy, remember; make as many friends as possible. Friends are the key to having a strong heart. Your friends are your power._

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That morning Mikan woke up to the pitter-patter of rain against her dorm windows. She felt weird – like something was missing. A few moments later, she realized it was for two things. One, her cendy friend was gone. But most important of all, her mother wasn't there to wake her up and give her a kiss on the forehead, her pleasant vanilla smell wafting up Mikan's nose. Her mother always smelled nice in the morning. It occurred to Mikan several times but she had never really thought much about it, dismissing it as something she probably cooked that morning. Now Mikan sorely missed it.

Mikan walked to her kitchen and got an apple. She wasn't that hungry and didn't have much energy to do anything, so she propped herself up on her couch and ate her apple in silence. The only noise heard in the room was the tap-tap of the rain outside.

If she were at home her mother would scold her for moping around. She used to always say, "Hey, life runs. Don't let it leave you behind."

"Sorry Mom, but life left me in the dust way back when I got on the heffling carriage," she mumbled.

"Well then catch up."

Mikan's head snapped up in surprise. "Hotaru!" She hadn't even heard her come in!

"It's what your mother would say, isn't it?" It then occurred to Mikan that Hotaru knew her mother too and she had known of her mother's wisdom as well. It was something Hotaru had definitely admired in Mikan's mother.

Mikan smiled to her friend gratefully. "I should catch up, shouldn't I? I can't let life get too far ahead; it'll be that much harder to catch up!"

Hotaru's mouth slightly twitched upward at Mikan's cheerfulness, but then went right back down. "Right. Did you read the note that was taped to your refrigerator?" Mikan's mouth fell open.

"Figured not." Hotaru disappeared into the kitchen and came back with the note in her hand. She handed it to Mikan and she read it aloud.

"Mikan, I hope you enjoy the arrangements I made for your room. I got the interior decorating team to work as soon as I heard you were coming. Here are the essential details for now, since Narumi brought you in too late for me to tell you personally.

Despite having food and kitchens in the dorms, there is a cafeteria. The cafeteria doesn't work on weekends, but it's still available during vacations when students are here. Breakfast is from 7:00 to 8:30 in the morning. Lunch will begin at noon and will end at 1:30 pm. Dinner starts at 5:00 pm and ends at 6:30.

If you want to buy anything just go to Central Town. People get their monthly allowances according to magic levels. Mikan, you have a power so rare it was never put into a category, so your allowance is still undecided.

Once a week someone will come to your dorm and refill anything you might need, like food or toiletries. The day before class starts your uniform and classroom apparatus will arrive. On school nights, dorm curfew is 9:00. There isn't any curfew on weekends or vacations, but that doesn't mean you can go wild, Mikan.

Now that you know the essentials, I hope you don't forget that this isn't just a beautiful place. You are here to learn and work hard. Don't give up, and I look forward to seeing how you hold out.

From your uncle, Kazu Yukihira.

PS: Luna and I are visiting you on noon Wednesday. Be ready."

Mikan tilted her head to the right, confused. "Wednesday? Why Wednesday? Today's Monday."

Hotaru's shoulder twitched – her version of a shrug. "Maybe they just had something to do."

"Hmm, probably. Hotaru, was this all you came for?" Don't get her wrong; Mikan was happy that Hotaru was there. It was just that coming all the way to her room just to see if she read a letter was weird – it made her curious.

"You weren't at the cafeteria this morning." It was all the answer Mikan needed and she immediately plowed Hotaru with a bear hug.

"Aw, Hotaru worried about me!" Mikan squealed in delight.

"Mikan?"

"Yes?"

"Touching."

Mikan immediately backed away, grimacing slightly. "Sorry," she said squeamishly. Hotaru didn't exactly take 'sentimental crap' from other people. Mikan was the only one ever allowed to touch her without being blasted to bits by one of her inventions. At least for the first ten seconds.

The rest of the day was spent talking with Amanatsu – she'd come in only moments after Mikan nearly suffered the wrath of Hotaru's inventions – and she did neat tricks that Hotaru had programmed into her back home and Mikan never got the chance to see. Mikan's favorite was her 'stealth mode' – when Amanatsu changed the color of her exoskeleton to look like her surroundings. It only lasted about 10 minutes and probably wasn't as good as shooting missiles capable of destroying entire buildings out of your fingertips, but Mikan figured it'd be useful to find things out since she was in a place that was completely unfamiliar to her.

It was at 10 o'clock that night when Amanatsu and Hotaru had to leave. Mikan bade them goodbye and sat at the bi-fold table they'd taken out a while ago, feeling strangely lonely. She sat there for a good while before something bright appeared right in front of her. It stayed still for a bit, and then started dancing around her happily. It was the cendy! Then it did something strange. It flew to her dorm's exit and darted back and forth around it – as if beckoning her to follow it.

Well, she figured, there's nothing better to do. Mikan went to her room to the top-left drawer where she always kept her umbrella. Sure enough, it was there and she picked it up and went back to the cendy. As soon as she opened the door it darted down the hallway to the common room door, flying back and forth and waiting for her to open it too. When she did, the cendy flew so fast Mikan had to sprint to keep up with it. She followed it down the stairs, through the grand hall, and just as Mikan had thought, outside into the pouring rain.

Mikan ran after it for a long while before it finally stopped and flew around in a circle. Mikan's umbrella had flown out of her hand a good ten minutes ago and now she was completely soaked through. She put one hand on her knee and another on her chest and tried to catch her breath – the hot and humid air of the summer rain shower was not helping her.

When she put her head down, she noticed that the cendy wasn't just circling around in the air for nothing; it was flying over a little lump that she would have missed completely for all the dirt and mud caked over it, but she caught a glimpse of blue – it's eyes – along with some gold – a bracelet or band – and she knew it wasn't just mud. She ran over to the cendy and kneeled down over the lump. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the lump was a cat with a bracelet on it's tail – and that it was hurt very badly.

She carefully gathered the cat up in her arms and tried not to upset any of it's wounds, then ever so carefully treaded back in the direction she came from. The cendy flew slowly this time and helped guide her as her only form of light in the rain. Plus, she'd never been outside of her dorm before now so she wouldn't even be able to get back to her room without it.

Between running to the cat, getting it back, and walking back without tripping and falling on anything because Mikan wasn't exactly the most graceful person in the world and she didn't want to hurt it even more, it took Mikan a long time to get back to her dorm. An hour and a half had already passed by – jeez, how big was this school? – and most of that time was spent trying not to drop her injured stray. By the time she opened the door to her dorm she was dead tired and she was covered with mud that tracked all over the building. Takahashi was going to have a fit.

Weirdly, when she looked behind her after opening the door, the cendy was gone. Mikan really hoped to anything above that she'd be able to solve the mystery behind that cendy one of these days. She had quite the curiosity that normally did her more bad than good, and something as mysterious as a cendy that went close to humans practically made it beg to know more. But the cendy wasn't there anymore and she couldn't exactly speak to it without getting off track and going all giddy, so she just shrugged and continued to her dorm.

Mikan walked to the bathroom and set the cat on the tub. She opened the cabinet under the sink and got the first aid kit – she'd found out it was there earlier that day when one of Amanatsu's offensive functions worked a little too well.

Mikan unclasped the golden band from the cat's tail and washed it before washing her own hands. She cleaned the cat as best she could and pressed a towel to it to try to soak up as much water as it could without upsetting her wounds or getting any cloth caught in them. Mikan felt a stab of sympathy. How could a something so small get so hurt? Did it get to campus that way?

While cleaning it she found out that it was a girl. It was a very beautiful cat through all of the cuts. Her pelt was all clear grayish blue, save for a small brown spot on her right flank. Mikan set the now bloody towel aside and inspected all of the cuts. The worst of her injuries was a big gash right through that same brown spot so Mikan got to sterilizing and sewing that one up first.

The poor cat probably went unconscious a long time ago because it didn't even flinch when she poured alcohol over her all of her cuts. Mikan's heart hurt all over again. She sewed the biggest ones together with a sterilized needle and thread from the first aid kit and then spread a thick antibiotic salve over them that she hoped would work on cats. Bacteria were bacteria, even on an animal, right? She wrapped them in bandages.

There was something about taking care of things like this that Mikan liked. Whenever kids in her village ever got hurt, they would always go straight to her before anyone else. She would stick a band-aid on their cuts and kiss their foreheads even if they were the same age as she was, just like her mother did. It always worked, anyway. When her mother found out, she taught Mikan how to do a lot of things with first aid and how to take care of sick people. That was why she knew how to do all of this.

When Mikan finished the cat's breathing calmed a little, but she knew that in the morning it would have a fever to kill any bacteria that got in through the wounds. That cat was covered in mud, so she suspected that she would have a really bad fever, too. She picked the cat up and set her on the bathroom floor so she could keep an eye on her and then got to cleaning herself.

Mikan sighed in relief when she felt the hot water from the shower wash over her and her tired muscles. She loved showers – the hot water always allowed her to think more clearly. But in this case it wasn't exactly good, because her thoughts trickled to a subject she'd been trying to avoid all day long.

Her mother had probably continued with her normal day back home – getting up, making pancakes, which were Mikan's favorite, then going to work at the village day care until the evening, then finish the day baking cookies for the kids to eat the next day. Mikan used to love helping her mother bake. Except now, she would be doing all of that without Mikan.

Mikan sat on the tub and wrapped her arms around her knees. When would be the next time that Mikan could see her mother? Mikan had only learned that she had magic two days ago – which meant that she had never been to the Academy all her life. Which probably also meant that they would keep her for years until she finished college, just like with Hotaru. She wouldn't be able to get out and see her mother at all for the next five years. Mikan felt herself fill with loneliness at the thought and she tightened her arms around herself and cried.

She didn't know how long it was that she cried under the falling water of the shower, but when she stopped she felt tired and hollow and her eyes were puffy, so she stopped the water and climbed out, wrapping herself up in a towel.

Mikan picked up the little cat and made her way to her room. She set the cat down on her bed and changed into a nightgown this time – she was in her pajamas when she had went out into the rain and now they were caked with mud. She set herself down next to the cat and stared at the gold band she'd clasped back onto her tail. It was really pretty, with these ancient-looking linear designs on it. Mikan wondered where the cat got it. For a second before she fell asleep to the sound of the cat's soft breathing, she thought she saw it glow.

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Mikan was standing around her friends back home in Teralane. She was in one of the mayor's annual parties – though Mikan could have sworn he'd already had it months ago. Her mother was across the room talking to the mayor and Hotaru was off somewhere else, likely trying to avoid talking to other people. The atmosphere was light and cheery, and Mikan soaked it up like a sponge.

But then the floor disappeared.

Mikan found herself falling through a sea of darkness. She looked up and saw her mother and Hotaru still in the party, standing on an imaginary floor and calling to her. She flailed about in the darkness and tried to get to them, but she just kept on falling and falling. Soon, the party setting disappeared. Then one by one, the people she knew and cared about disappeared too.

All that was left were Hotaru and her mother – the two of them were soundlessly pounding on the imaginary floor and calling to her. But then the two of them faded into the darkness as well, and Mikan couldn't even find the voice to scream.

She felt tears fall from her eyes as she felt the darkness start to swallow her up too. First Mikan couldn't see her feet. Then her legs – her stomach – her arms. Mikan was horrified as she watched her body slowly disappear in front of her. And just when she was starting to feel the rest of her be swallowed up by darkness, everything covered in a white light so bright Mikan had to close her eyes.

When she opened them, her body was all there. Everything was all white and it seemed like she was standing on nothing. Then Mikan realized she wasn't alone. Right across from her, noble blue eyes shining bright, was the cat she had saved!

"_Why are you here, little cat?"_ Mikan's voice echoed through the light.

"_I am your guardian," _the cat's pleasantly deep female voice filled her ears.

Mikan nearly did a double-take. The cat talked! She stared dumbly at it for a minute before another question came to her mind. _"Wait – my guardian? But you're a cat!"_

The cat's head dipped a little – probably in amusement._ "Only in this form. As for my true form…you will have to wait and see."_

"_It is time for you to wake, Mikan. I will answer your questions later. For now, just know that my name is Stella."_ Stella turned and started walking away.

Mikan wanted to call after her, but she could already feel herself starting to wake up…

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"Hey-Hey, everyone! Welcome to Xuly's Corner!" Xuly pumped out his little chest proudly, sitting on the tall stool for the set. "It's time for adorable me to shine!"

He opened his bright blue eyes and brought out his pointer from nowhere. He pointed it to a poster of the Grand-Hall tacked to the wall of the set.

"Now, if you paid attention you'd know that everything is powered by magic. But where does that magic come from?" He twirled the pointer with his long ear/arm, which seemed to be his signature move.

"I know! The energy used to power magic is called mana. The kingdom's High Council has several mana plants stationed through the land that convert all of it to magic. The cities and villages get all of their power from those." Xuly inclined forward enough that he was in danger of falling off of his high stool.

"How the mana gets there is Xuly's little secret," he winked and revealed the sharp incisors he had for teeth.

The pointer disappeared to whatever part of space it came from and Xuly's ears perked up. "Ah! The preview is coming to me! The knowledge is filling my mind! And because I'm so wonderful, here it is."

"Mikan managed to get acquainted with the place she would be living in for the next couple of years, but what about the people? And what will become of the little stray that claims to be Mikan's guardian in a dream, Stella? Tune in next time to find out on **Aduro's Chosen: Mom's Words.**"


	3. Mom's Words

_A/N: I actually wrote this chapter and the last one together, but it eventually got way too long so I just opted to split it and update them back-to-back. Which brings me to this question: __**Do you want me to make the chapters short, so I update regularly, or make the chapters long, but take a lot longer to write? **__Doing the former would make the story rather long, because __**this story is actually kinda really long running…maybe**__. There would be a LOT of chapters. Doing the latter would mean waaay fewer chapters, but everything would be all bunched up together.__Review or PM your answer to me, please!_

**Disclaimer: **_(What's that Lassie? I own Gakuen Alice? Yippee! Oh wait, what'd you say, girl? That I'm a gullible idiot and will never own Gakuen Alice in my entire life? Okay! ...WAIT A MINUTE ―)_

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**Mom's Words**

Mikan's eyes snapped open and she shot up in surprise. She blinked a couple of times and looked to her right on the bed. Sure enough the cat – Stella – was still there. It looked like she did have a fever, like Mikan thought she would.

Mikan shook off the effects of the strange dream and decided to get herself ready for the day. She took a quick look outside the window and saw that it was sunny outside. There were a bunch of kids hanging out and playing group games – her future classmates. Her mother's words rang through her head again.

Mikan changed into her usual white and pink outfit and ate a quick breakfast, her resolve set. She would make new friends today, just like her mother told her to do. But before she did that, she would make sure Stella would be alright long enough without her there. That fever was sure to get worse later on for all the mud-tracking she did the night before so Mikan had to make it so that she'd be okay for at least a few hours until she came back.

Surprised by the abundance of food in the kitchen, Mikan was able to make a light broth her mother taught her to make for when people were sick and took it to Stella. Mikan woke the cat up and set the small bowl right in front of her, making sure that she took every last sip.

It was hard because the poor cat could barely keep her head up, she was so out of it, but Mikan managed somehow. She caught herself thinking that the cat didn't say anything the entire time and scolded herself for it. That dream wasn't real. It was just a dream… right?

Just when Stella finished and Mikan managed to convince herself it wasn't true, she uttered a small "thank you."

Mikan froze. The cat talked. The cat _talked_. And it could apparently appear in random people's dreams and tell them she was their guardian. She was taught not to leave people hanging, so out of instant reflex Mikan mumbled, "You're welcome."

Mikan shook her head and left her dorm just as Hotaru was leaving hers. Mikan presented her with a sunny smile that she always saved for Hotaru in the mornings but couldn't for the two days prior thanks to the play of events. It had become a sort of morning greeting between the two of them growing up.

"I can't be out that long. I picked up a stray cat last night that needs tending to." Hotaru's eyebrow came up, asking for further explanation. "I'll show you later."

Hotaru nodded and the both of them left the high school dormitories. After a bit of walking and not knowing where they were, Mikan asked:

"Hey Hotaru, where are we going?"

Hotaru's eyes stayed ahead of her. "Around. You never went to the school tour last spring."

Eyes wide and filled with hope, Mikan asked, "So you decided to take me?"

Hotaru's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "No," she deadpanned. "They figured I had nothing better to do so they elected me. The inventor. They probably think inventors just skip around with roses and daisies and little blue dogs."

Mikan snickered a little and raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Little blue dogs?"

"Don't ask."

Mikan blinked a few times and then crossed her hands behind her back. "Okay… so where are we going first?"

"Wherever we end up first."

They never got to 'wherever they ended up first' because after a short time of walking through different kids of varying age groups, they heard a muffled splash and an indignant "KOKO!"

A boy with sand brown hair suddenly bumped into Mikan. She ended up on the ground with a very hurting behind and he got up quickly and ran passed her.

"Sorry!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Mikan slowly got up and rubbed her still aching rear. "How rude," she muttered.

Mikan turned her attention to the direction he was running from and saw a very furious girl around her age with eyes a few shades paler than her dark green hair – and she was absolutely drenched in the muddy water she was sitting in a pool of. The people standing on the grass around her snickered to themselves.

Caring nature kicking in, Mikan walked over to her and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

The girl turned her furious gaze over to Mikan. "Do I look like I'm okay? That damned Koko! I come to him in a good mood and actually say 'hello' today and what does he do? He flipping – wait a minute," she turned confused. "Do I know you?"

"Uhh, no," Mikan said, slightly intimidated. "I'm just here to ask if you need any help."

She quickly turned embarrassed and apologized. "Oh! It's just that – well – he's Koko," she finished lamely.

Mikan was still cautious when she spoke. She definitely didn't want her blowing up again. "...And I'm guessing Koko does stuff like this often?"

The girl rolled her eyes and Mikan nearly flinched. "Ugh, don't get me started. The stuff he pulls is enough to make a nun want to grate someone's head into a brick wall."

Before Mikan could reply to her graphic statement, the girl's eyes widened. "Oh, where'd my manners go? I'm Sumire Shouda. Are you new here?"

Mikan nodded, finding some of her courage again. "Yeah, but don't you think we should get you cleaned up a bit before anything else?" She held out her hand.

Sumire took it and as if she had just realized the people laughing at her, she trained her gaze toward them. "What are you looking at?"

They quickly turned away from her and pretended they hadn't seen what had just occurred. Mikan gawked at her. Wow, Sumire was a rather powerful person.

Sumire hid slightly behind Mikan as they began to walk back to the high school dorms. "That Koko," she muttered. "I'm about three seconds away from chasing after him but I don't feel like advertising my muddy self all over campus."

Hotaru rose an eyebrow as they walked passed her but she silently followed them nonetheless.

Mikan looked behind at Sumire. "I'm Mikan Sakura. I just came here a few days ago. The one following behind us is my best friend Hotaru Imai."

Hotaru nodded in greeting when Sumire turned to look at her. Sumire slightly smiled in reply but she became incredulous when she turned back to Mikan. "_That's_ your best friend? She looks like an ice queen!"

Mikan smiled a bit at that. That's what everyone thought about her. It might have been somewhat true, but there was definitely a nice side to her that came out not-so-very-often. So Mikan liked to call her a snow queen rather than an ice queen, even though she'd never seen the white stuff back in her warm village. It fit better in her eyes. To respond to Sumire's statement, Mikan said:

"That's because you just met her."

"So she get's nicer the more you know her?"

"...Maybe."

Sumire looked like she didn't exactly like that answer but she kept to herself about it. She turned her head back again. "Hotaru, do you mind if you walk kind of close to my back? I really don't want people to see me so dirty."

Hotaru rolled her eyes but still walked a little closer to her, in a way that if anyone looked from behind they'd only mostly see a bit of her outline. See? Snow queen.

On the way there, Sumire didn't exactly want to focus on the fact that she was trekking through campus covered in mud. Or that some people were looking at her weird and others were trying to hide the fact that they were snickering in that overly obvious way that made it clear what they were really doing. News traveled fast, apparently.

So what did Sumire do? She talked. A lot. Sumire didn't stop the entire time they walked to the dorms. By the time they got there, Hotaru was about ready to pull Sumire's hair out (not her own, of course. It would be more effective in shutting her up). At least Mikan was sure she had made a real friend, since Sumire had shared so much about herself to the point that they had to be friends.

"So what's your room?" Mikan asked as she opened the door to the grand hall.

"Firefly-31," she answered immediately.

Mikan grinned widely. "Really? Our dorms are Firefly-33 and 34!"

"So one of you two is the one who got Wakako's room?"

"What?"

"Wakako is the one who had originally gotten Firefly-34," Sumire explained casually. "She switched out when Takahashi offered her a dorm in a hall right next to her crush."

Mikan was a little put off by the news, but she hid it well. She smiled. "Who are the others in our hall?"

The two bounded up the stairs, Hotaru taking her time now because there weren't as many people inside as there was outside.

"Let's see...there's Anna, Nonoko, and… Yura, I think her name was?" Sumire unlocked the door to her room. Mikan immediately decided she liked it.

Sumire's dorm wasn't as decorated as hers, but it was the same layout. Three of the walls were all light yellow, but one wall was painted a very dark purple, as a sharp contrast. The carpet was light green and the furniture was pure white, except for an oval-shaped glass table in the middle of the room the exact spot where Mikan's wood table was in her own dorm. It was all very tasteful. When Mikan voiced it out Sumire smiled proudly and said she'd told the interior decorators to make it that way herself.

Sumire's closet was filled with very fashionable clothes, Mikan noted. She chose an outfit to wear and said she'd take a small shower and that she'd be right out. That small shower ended up being an hour and a half long and Hotaru's patience was wearing very thin.

"Sorry," Sumire said when she came back to the living room where Mikan and Hotaru were waiting. "It took a lot longer to get that mud out of my hair than I thought I would."

"It doesn't matter!" Mikan said before Hotaru said the biting words she knew would come out of her mouth. She didn't want to upset her new friend. It seemed Hotaru understood because she shot her a look but stayed silent.

"Alright, let's go see Anna and Nonoko. Knowing them, they'd love you to death, Mikan." Sumire grabbed Mikan's wrist and pulled her out into the hallway, not giving her much choice in the matter. Hotaru followed, but not without looking like she really had nothing better to do – which she did, by the way.

Sumire let go of Mikan's hand to knock on the door for Firefly-30.

"Are you sure?" Mikan asked, making Sumire pause with her hand hovering over the door.

The forest-green-eyed girl turned her head and said, "Positive. Oh, and brace yourselves. Anna and Nonoko share a dorm every year, and they usually get settled in pretty quick. It's just that some of their stuff is kind of… weird."

Sumire knocked on the door. There was a series of weird pings and bumps and loud noises that rose more than a few eyebrows and then the door swung wide open.

"Sumire! If you were coming you should've called first! I would've at least cleaned up a bit." A girl with straight, navy blue hair and eyes stood at the door, looking a little bit flustered. Her eyes turned wide and curious when she spotted Mikan and Hotaru standing behind Sumire. "Oh? Who are these two?"

"This is Nonoko Ogasawara." Sumire gestured to the blue haired girl, Nonoko. "Nonoko, these two newbies are Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai."

Hotaru only nodded in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Nonoko." Mikan held out her hand and smiled brightly.

Nonoko shook her hand. "You're so sweet! I can already tell we'll be great friends. Come on in, you guys. Don't mind all of the stuff, okay?"

Nonoko opened the door wider and it took a lot of willpower for Mikan not to gape…or say 'ew'.

The place was a mess. The would-be living room was turned into a kitchen-lab of a sort. There were tables, pots, pans, plates, cups, spoons, beakers, burners, measuring tools, plants, chemicals, and weird liquids and concoctions on nearly every available surface. Anything that could hold something in it was everywhere – which sadly, most of them did. There were even things hanging from the ceiling! Some of the stuff in the containers actually looked pretty nice, though. Mikan spotted a beaker with some sort of thickly swirling orange and pink liquid sloshing inside. But Mikan most certainly did not want to know what that foul-smelling mud-like mixture in one of the pots hanging from the ceiling was.

Mikan could only say, "…Interesting."

Hotaru didn't say anything yet again. Mikan couldn't decide if it was just by her nature or because her lab wasn't that better off than this one either.

"You don't have to be so subtle, Mikan. They know it's bad. We know it's bad. Heck – _everyone_ knows it looks bad. It's like this every year. These two never change," Sumire pointed to the entire dorm and kept her hand at Nonoko, who only slightly scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. Mikan had to give her credit for that.

Then a new voice piped up. "Oh? Who are these people?"

Mikan turned to where it came from. A girl that looked exactly like Nonoko stood there, except she had curly cotton candy pink hair and cotton candy blue eyes. Actually, most of her reminded Mikan of cotton candy, even the white shirt with swirly designs and the – again – cotton candy green skirt she was wearing. Mikan made a note of how she reacted almost exactly like Nonoko did when she first saw them. It was all too intriguing so Mikan couldn't help but ask:

"Are you two related?"

'Cotton candy' shook her head and smiled. "No, but we get that a lot."

"This is my roommate Anna Umenomiya," Nonoko introduced. "Anna, this is Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai," Nonoko pointed to them and smiled brightly. "They're new here!"

Anna's eyes widened and she clasped her hands in front of her. "Really? Oh my gosh," she squealed and ran over to Nonoko. "Remember when we were first new here?"

Nonoko nodded. "Yeah! We were both –"

" – so scared!" Anna finished for her.

Mikan stared, baffled. Were these two really not related? They acted like twins! Then Anna turned back to Mikan and Hotaru.

"Were the two of you scared?"

Hotaru snorted, "No."

At the same time Mikan said, "A little…"

Both Anna and Nonoko squealed, "Awwwww!" They rushed over to Mikan and started fussing over her.

"Where did you come from?"

"How scared were you?"

"You poor thing!"

And the one that popped up the most: "You're so cute!"

The gushing wouldn't stop and Mikan was starting to feel more than a just little flustered. Thankfully, Sumire intervened.

"Come on, let the girl breathe." She pulled Anna and Nonoko away from Mikan – surprisingly – with a little bit of difficulty. Then she whispered to Mikan, "See? I told you they'd love you."

Yes, and if Mikan remembered correctly, she said they'd love her to _death_. After going through that, Mikan really hoped it wasn't literal.

Passing off the entire situation, Hotaru asked, "What kind of magic do the two of you have?"

The girls squealed yet again at the chance to explain their abilities. "We both have 'mixing' affinities," Anna explained. "We're able to take different things and mix them into potions and the like to make something else. Thanks to that, we're really good at cooking too!"

Nonoko nodded and continued on for her. "Separately, we can only make petty things, like love potions or stink bombs. But together –"

"– we make the best substance-based healers the Academy's seen in years!" They both finished together yet again, leaving Mikan a little bit shocked. She didn't think she would ever get used to that.

Then Mikan thought about what they actually said and not the way they said it. "Substance-based?"

"Yep," Nonoko said. "There are two types of healers. Substance-based –"

"That's us!" Anna cut in.

"– and magic-based," Nonoko continued without missing a single beat. "Substance-based healers rely on potions and mixtures with a little bit of magic mixed in to heal people and animals. Magic-based healers rely on their spells to do it because they're 'healing' affinities."

Mikan hummed and nodded her head. Then she remembered the wounded cat she'd brought in that was currently sleeping on her bed. "Hey, you two said that you could heal animals too, right?" Mikan asked.

Anna and Nonoko nodded.

"Well, last night I found a stray cat that was hurt really bad. I know a little bit about wounds, so I treated her the best that I could, but now she has a fever to purge all of the bacteria she tracked in. I was wondering if – if she would heal quicker if I used something you guys made," Mikan explained, sounding a little hopeful at the end.

"Of course! I'll go get the fever medicine," Anna disappeared behind the door to what Mikan thought was the kitchen.

To Mikan's slight horror, Nonoko went and reached out for the bad-smelling goo from before. Hotaru wrinkled her nose and Sumire flat-out covered hers. Nonoko laughed.

"You get used to the smell when you've been working with this stuff as long as we have. It's healing properties are great for cuts." With both hands Nonoko lifted the pot a little for them to see and Mikan shied away while trying to make it look like she didn't so she didn't look disrespectful.

Anna returned with a little bottle with clear liquid in her hands and Nonoko sighed in relief. "Now can we see the cat? This thing is heavier than it looks."

Mikan didn't doubt it and she nodded. She led them to her dorm and nearly tripped twice on the way out – how Nonoko didn't fall with all of the stuff in her dorm and that pot in her hands, she might never know. Mikan unlocked the door with her key and stepped inside. As she made her way to her room, she heard the whispered gasps and gushes from the girls walking behind her.

"Wow, Mikan. Your dorm feels so – warm and homey," Anna said.

"Uh huh," Sumire nodded, still looking around as she walked into Mikan's room. "I wouldn't mind crashing here for a couple of nights for sleep-overs. Especially with that telescreen over there."

Mikan nodded as she walked over to the bed and drew their eyes to the heart-breaking sight of Stella, breathing loudly as if it even hurt to do that and almost wrapped completely in bandages.

"When you said she was hurt really bad, you really meant it," Sumire said sadly. Mikan wondered if she had a soft spot for animals.

"Can you take her to the bathroom, Mikan? It'll be easier for us to treat her there," Nonoko said.

Mikan nodded. "Come on, Stella." She picked up the cat as lightly as she could so as to not jostle her too much. Hotaru looked inquisitively at her because of the name.

Mikan searched for a way to explain the name. The only thing she could come up with was, "I… heard the name in a dream."

It was the truth, anyway. Just not enough for them to think she was completely crazy, which she was starting to think she was.

Sumire nodded in approval. "It's a nice name," she said. "It means star in the Old Language. A lot of incantations for spells are said in that language."

Mikan carefully carried Stella to the bathroom where Anna and Nonoko shooed her away because there wasn't enough room for all of them. She ended up sitting in the living room, literally twiddling her thumbs while waiting for them to finish with Stella.

"Mikan." Hotaru's voice drew her attention away from her hands.

"Yes?"

"How did you find that cat? You hardly even know your way around here and yet you find a stray cat at night time in the pouring rain," Hotaru probed.

"Uhh," Mikan squirmed and just decided she'd tell the truth, however crazy it might sound. "Well – the cendy told me. It just popped up and led me to Stella and then brought me back."

Sumire, who was also sitting on the couch next to her and resting, suddenly shot up and looked at Mikan like she just sprouted an extra head. "Did you just say a _cendy_ led you to that cat?"

So Mikan explained to her what had happened from the time she and Hotaru had gotten to the dorms to the time Mikan had gone to sleep the night before, minus hanging out with Hotaru and Amanatsu. When she finished, Sumire was sitting against the couch again, arms crossed and eyes wide.

"…Wow. Cendies have never done this sort of thing. Ever. I mean – they only come around here only once every couple of months, and I heard the last time they came here was three weeks ago," she looked speculatively at Mikan, as though she could solve the mystery that way. "And then they come over here – sooner than they've ever done – and faun all over you?"

Mikan shrugged. "Maybe something's just up."

Sumire nodded, but reluctantly tore her gaze away from Mikan. "Probably."

Hotaru was standing against the wall now with a look on her face that Mikan definitely recognized. She'd seen it over and over again through the years. It was one that she always had before she made some sort of crazy new invention. "Mikan, is there any way for you to call that cendy here?"

Hotaru's question had caught her off guard. "Uh – I don't think so. It just comes up on it's own."

The look didn't leave lavender eyes as she hummed and nodded. "What if we just asked it?"

Sumire snorted. "And how are we supposed to do that? With some sort of magical machine that pops out of the sky?"

The raven haired girl's lips twitched in a near non-existent smirk. "Maybe."

Before Mikan and Sumire could find out more, Anna and Nonoko appeared. Mikan's eyes were immediately drawn to the cat bunched up in Nonoko's arms.

"You did really great, Mikan," Nonoko said as she handed Stella to Mikan. She was relieved to see that she was breathing a lot easier now.

"Yeah," said Anna. "We didn't even have to do much except for spreading the medical salve and changing the bandages. By the end of the day, you'll be able to remove the stitches."

"Speaking of stitches – where did you learn how to sew wounds together like that? I've never even seen my classmates do it so well!" Nonoko asked while Anna silently encouraged her to answer.

Mikan blushed at their praise and looked down at the cat she was holding. "The kids in the village I came from were really – energetic. We would get cuts a lot. I liked to take care of everyone when they got hurt, so when my mom found out, she got the village medic and they both taught me a lot. I even helped the medic sometimes."

The girls could barely contain themselves. "Oh my gosh, are you a healer, like us? That would be so great!" They both couldn't help yelling at the same time.

"Yeah, you never told us what kind of magic you both had," Sumire verbally butted in.

"Neither did you," Hotaru said, making Sumire cringe.

"I'll tell you mine when you tell me yours," Sumire countered, albeit a little nervously.

Mikan sat on the couch and laid Stella gently on her lap. She could see the beginnings of a sadistic smirk on Hotaru's face. That could only spell trouble for Sumire, who had assumed that Hotaru's magic would be embarrassing.

Hotaru spoke before Mikan could try to do anything. "I have an 'assembling' affinity. Like Anna and Nonoko (to which the twins squealed), except I mostly mix solids and make them into more solids," the smirk on her face widened at the growing horror on Sumire's face. "In other words – I invent," she finished.

"And Mikan? What's your magic?" Anna asked enthusiastically. The two 'twins' – as Mikan decided to call them – were completely oblivious to Sumire's distress.

Unfortunately, Mikan was having a bit of a crisis of her own. "Uhm … well – I don't – I don't really know," Mikan tried not to focus on the dumbfounded looks on Sumire and the twins' faces. "We really only discovered I had – magic when Narumi's magic wouldn't work on me. He also said I was special because all of the cendies – attracted to me." She ended up having to explain what she had to Sumire earlier again for Anna and Nonoko.

"So even your magic is a mystery, huh," Sumire smiled wryly at Mikan.

"Sumire's right. You're a very mysterious person Mikan," Nonoko pointed out. She and Anna had settled on the carpeted floor as Mikan was explaining things.

Flushing, Mikan defended, "But not on purpose!"

"Of course not. Mystery just happens to like you a lot," Anna said, smiling and putting her head on her hands.

Mikan sighed and gave up. Then – remembering something – she said, "Sumire, you never told us what your magic was."

The green-haired girl froze for a moment. Her face twisted into a look of dread. "Uh, can't I just tell you later?"

"No," Hotaru surprised them all by saying.

Realizing there was no way out of it, Sumire's face became slightly determined. "Alright, you can do this," she murmured to herself.

She got up from the couch, and for a moment she just stood there. Then, taking a deep breath, she started rubbing her temples with her knuckles.

"…Sumire, what are you doing?" Mikan asked, confused.

Whiskers sprouted on Sumire's cheeks. Then, to Mikan's shock, she got on all fours and started… sniffing?

"Hmph, you were right, Mikan," Sumire said in a slightly gruff voice. "Approximately thirteen hours ago, a single cendy was here for exactly three minutes before leaving out that door."

Mikan stared dumbly in shock. Did she partially transform into a cat? A dog? A cat _and_ dog? And it wasn't even a full transformation!

Sumire stood to her full height and her face took on a pinkish hue. Though Mikan didn't miss the way she stole a quick glance at Stella while doing so. "I have the 'physical' affinity. I can alter my own body – but only _my_ body – and in this case, into a c-cat-dog constitution."

"Don't laugh at me!" She yelled angrily at Anna and Nonoko, who were giggling into their hands.

"I'm sorry!" Anna gushed from behind her hand.

"It's just that – you're so cute!" Nonoko piped up next to her. At this, the both of them started squealing.

Mikan looked over at Hotaru. She gulped at the tiny bit of satisfaction gleaming in her eye. Poor Sumire. Not even Mikan, who had known Hotaru for nearly all her life, could guess what kind of gears were turning in her head right now.

Sumire released her magic and the five of them continued talking and watching whatever was on the telescreen even through lunch. Mikan found out that Anna and Nonoko were _really_ good at cooking, just like they said they were. They said it was because Mikan's kitchen was very well stocked while theirs wasn't because of their potion-making endeavors. Even Amanatsu popped in and stayed for a while. Then three hours after lunch Amanatsu remembered what she came for. If she could blush, she would have. She came to tell Hotaru she needed to do maintenance on some of her inventions because she still couldn't handle work that precise yet. After the inventor and her robot left, Mikan's new friends still stayed.

It wasn't until it was getting dark that Anna and Nonoko left, saying that they should really be getting to some early-year assignments given to them as a precaution to what was to come in the year. Sumire left as well to go to her friend Wakako, whom she hadn't seen the entire day.

As the door closed behind Sumire, Mikan was surprised to see one of Stella's startlingly blue eyes scrutinizing her from her lap.

"Gah!" She jumped, nearly sending the cat flying off her lap. "How long have you been awake?"

Stella's eye took on an amused glint and she licked her only bandage-free paw. "For some time. Your friends are quite interesting, to say the least."

Mikan flinched – she hadn't expected an answer. All semblance of Stella being a normal cat and herself being sane completely flew from her mind.

She sighed. "Why didn't you say anything if you were awake for so long?"

Stella rested her head on Mikan's lap and closed both eyes now, purring loudly. She was the perfect picture of a content and lazy cat and Mikan smiled a little. "Your lap is very warm, Mikan. As for talking, there was merely no need. You did not direct any questions or statements toward me, so I did not speak."

That replaced Mikan's smile with an upset frown. "Stella, you can talk any time you want to. You don't have to act like you're serving me or anything. You're my friend, and I'm glad you're alright."

The cat took another deep breath. She looked so relaxed Mikan started to wonder why she wasn't even asleep yet. "I've never had to be a guardian for one such as you. All of the others merely treated me as a servant."

She opened her noble blue eyes and gave her a grateful look – with, maybe, a hint of awe in there too. "It is a nice change," she gave her a little cat nod. "Fine. I shall see myself as your friend and guardian, as long as you see me as the same."

Mikan smiled brightly. "It's a deal!"

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"Hey-Hey, everyone! Welcome to Xuly's Corner!" Xuly jumped on his tall stool. "Where I shine like the stars in the beautiful sky!"

Again Xuly produced the pointer from thin air. He pointed it to a poster of Anna and Nonoko's living room, sans the two occupants usually there.

"Let's get to business! Anna and Nonoko both have the 'mixing' affinity. The 'mixing' affinity has some of the most potential of all of them out there. They can not only make stink bombs and love potions, but they can also make aging candy to make you look older, and beauty syrup to make something look more beautiful! All in all, there's lots of handy stuff they can do to help others along the way."

Xuly did his signature pointer-swirl. "That's nothing compared to me, though! The Great Xuly can do so much –"

His pointer disappeared and his ears tipped toward the sky. "The awesomeness of Xuly has been interrupted to give you," his eyes widened over-dramatically, "the preview! I don't know if I should tell you or cry for being interrupted – but I'll tell you because I am SO great! "

"So we've found out some of the mystery behind Stella the cat, but what is she Mikan's guardian for? Who sent her? And the big one – how did she get so hurt? Meanwhile, it's time for Mikan to reunite with her precious aunt and uncle – Luna and Kazu! But what's this? School before school even starts? Tune in next time on **Aduro's Chosen: Mikan's First Lesson.**"

_A/N: Haha, I have so much fun with Xuly. Don't worry, guys! Alices _will_ be in here, I promise! Just not in the way that you would expect..._


	4. Mikan's First Lesson

_A/N: Oh gawd, this story is definitely writing itself. I'm getting _technical_! …ish. But I still don't normally even close to do that, so this story is definitely to blame! I tried to work hard with the characterization. It's not spot-on because everyone's older and people change, but I still tried to make it as realistic as possible. For example – Sumire isn't jumping up and down and bouncing off walls like a twilight fangirl on speed after seeing Taylor Lautner. I shall infinitely choose Natsume over Edward, by the way… __**crimson eyed girl**__ – whoa, hold up with all the questions! glad to see you're so taken with the story, though. And welcome to the club! __**Fan-Girl**__ – neither can I, hun. neither can I. and glad to see you think my story's so amazing. it completely made my day. :) __**babee-angel**__ – wow, you're the first person to ask! good mind! hmm, how 'bout a little bit of both? ;P __**Kylee-Cat**__ – you know what? I don't really know how I got the idea. I guess it's based on a dream idea I got for another story. while writing the other one, I thought 'hey, what if I made this a GA fic?' and so I did! but it ended up being a lot different from that one anyway. like I said, this story is writing itself! ****__moonacre99__ – thanks for your reviews! I'm glad you like my story so much. ^^ I'll try to update as quickly as possible, but summer makes me a busy person. thank goodness I'm not as busy as I am during school, though._ ^_~

_RxR, everyone! Your reviews keep me going. Literally._

**Disclaimer:** _(Let's see… I own a bottle, a laptop, a book, and a half-eaten rotting apple that's been sitting in the fridge for God knows how long but – oh darn! Gakuen Alice seems to not be on that list!)_

ξAжCζ

**Mikan's First Lesson**

"Mikan," said Stella softly. She poked the bob of chestnut hair peeking from under the covers. Mikan stirred.

"Mikan," she said again, more loudly this time. Still, Mikan would not move from the cocoon of sheets she'd created while asleep.

"_Mikan,_" she yelled insistently and the girl shot up, whacking Stella with her arm and the cat barely managed to catch her claws on the pink carpet before flying into the dresser. But instead of being mad, she was amused. How backward, the cat thought. Rather than being groggy and disoriented in the morning, she was abnormally strong. How did Mikan's mother manage to do this every morning?

"Careful, Mikan," she said, eyes smiling. "You don't want to give me _more_ stitches after just having removed them, do you?"

Mikan's eyes widened and she gasped in horror. "Stella! Oh my – I am so sorry! Really, really, really sorry!"

"You slept through breakfast, just to let you know," the she-cat gracefully leapt back into the bed and curled up in a ball. "I decided you'd had enough time to sleep."

Mikan pouted. "Some help you are." She only got a content cat purr in response. Right when she was about to go out the door, Stella stopped her.

"Mikan…"

"Hmm?" She turned, facing the cat nestled up in the sheets.

"That necklace on the dresser…wear it as much as possible," Stella said, looking away so Mikan couldn't tell what sort of expression she had at the moment.

Mikan tilted her head in confusion. It was the necklace her mother had given her before she got on the carriage. Mikan never wore it after that so that she could keep it safe. She knew from experience that it would get damaged and lose it's shine if she wore for too long. "But don't necklaces get all dirty and break if you use them too much?"

Stella shook her head, still looking away. "Not that necklace. Just wear it as much as you can. Please."

Still confused, Mikan obliged anyway and placed the necklace around her neck. The pink crystal glittered brightly even though there was hardly any sun coming in from the window. Mikan heard an almost relieved sounding sigh com from the cat. It was a sound that she hadn't heard from her yet, so Mikan smiled at finding out something else from the mysterious cat she'd rescued two nights ago.

The night before, the two of them had done some cat-girl bonding, if you could call it that. It was more Mikan trying to get some answers out of Stella and only getting cryptic-sounding answers in response. But Mikan did find out some useful things. For one thing, even though Stella was a cat, she wasn't particularly that fond of fish. She'd eat it if she had to, but that didn't mean she'd like it. For another, she found out that Stella could speak at least thirteen languages – at least because there were so many they stopped counting at thirteen. But soon it had turned into cat-medic bonding, because Mikan had to try to hold the squirming Stella down long enough for her to be able to remove the stitches from her healed-over wounds. The fidgeting cat had claimed that the moving stitches felt like worms under her skin and were unpleasant. Mikan sympathized with her, but that didn't mean the cat had to make her efforts more difficult than they could have been if she had just sat still. Now Mikan was sure she was friends with the mysterious cat, so the smile stayed on her face as she went through her morning rituals.

Mikan was currently enjoying the already-made waffles that were stowed in a box in her freezer when a knock sounded at the door. As soon as she got up to open it, a body immediately plowed her over.

"Mikan! It's so good to see you here!" Mikan heard a definitely familiar voice say above her. However, it was the bob of phoenix-red hair that gave it away.

"L-Luna!" Mikan struggled to say.

"Get off and let Mikan breathe, Luna. I think she's turning blue."

That voice Mikan recognized right away and she took a deep breath in relief when Luna's heavy weight was lifted off of her. She sat up and looked at the man standing not too far from the door. "Uncle Kazu!"

Mikan hadn't seen Kazu and Luna for years. For Luna, it was because of her job as a teacher for the school. For Kazu, she suspected it was a little more than that. Mikan never said anything, but she thought it might have had to do with her father. Whatever it was, she'd left it to the adults to handle. She knew a situation that she shouldn't interfere with when she saw it. That was one of them. Now, however, she would be happy to have finally seen them again.

"And it's Aunt Luna to you, missy," Luna reprimanded, hands on her hips. Mikan could clearly picture her fiery aunt waving her finger while doing so and she stifled a giggle. "I thought I told you to call me that a long time ago! And looking at how shocked you are, you probably forgot what day it is today, too."

Actually, Mikan did forget. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "But the letter said noon. It's not even close, yet."

"Yes, but I just couldn't wait to see you, Mikan!" Mikan could have sworn that at that moment Luna was practically the adult version of Anna or Nonoko. Or maybe she was just the both of them combined.

Mikan got up and straightened her dress out. The movement made the necklace around Mikan's neck shine brightly in the sunlight and it drew both adults' eyes to it.

"Mikan – that necklace…" Kazu said. It came out a little choked and Mikan stared at him worriedly. "It was my grandmothers…"

Mikan brought her hand to her chest, where the necklace rested. "My mother gave it to me before I left. She told me that my dad would've wanted me to have it. If you don't want me to keep it I'll–"

"No, don't," Kazu shook his head. "Yes…he would have wanted you to have that. I can't deny that. …Your mother made a good decision. Keep it with you, please." He looked so happy and sad at the same time and it was clear that he missed his little brother. Mikan shot him a look of sympathy.

"Alright, so she'll keep the necklace. Now let's get out and have some fun!" Mikan silently thanked Luna for her unaffected attitude and cheering up the atmosphere.

It snapped Kazu out of his bittersweet mood and he shot her a look. "We aren't here just to have fun."

"What?" Luna wrapped her arms around Mikan's shoulders. "Can't we just go to Central Town, shop everywhere and call it a day?"

Mikan didn't mind the hug because for the years she'd known her, Luna had always been this touchy with her and her mom. She turned her head and asked, "Central Town?" Ignored, the adults just went on.

Kazu sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We've been over this, Luna. Mikan isn't like everyone else here. She never even knew she had magic before this week."

"I know, but can't we save all the lesson stuff for when school starts?" Luna whined, swaying so that Mikan swayed with her. "I mean, can't she have the last few weeks of vacation free of school stuff? You know what I'm talking about, right Mikan?"

Mikan nodded. "I know, but –"

"See?" Luna interrupted. "She doesn't want to be taught anything!"

"No," Kazu said curtly. "You just interrupted her. Finish what you were saying, Mikan."

Caught in the middle of what Mikan suspected happened quite often, she nervously said, "I do understand what you're talking about, Aunt Luna. But Uncle Kazu's right. I'm not like everyone else here, so when I start school I – I want to be prepared."

Luna let go of Mikan and huffed. She put her hands on her hips. "Jeez, Mikan! When did you get so…so –"

"Responsible?" Kazu offered for her.

Luna nodded vigorously. "Yeah, that! It's like – you've been hanging around just your mom for way too long, you know that?"

"If you're like this, how do your students end up?" Her uncle shook his head again. "I will never know how you managed to convince the elementary school principal to let you teach."

Luna crossed her arms and Mikan could tell she was just a step above sticking her tongue out at him. But only just. "Because we both know that I really am an awesome teacher. I just don't show it much outside the classroom."

"Right," he said in a tone that clearly stated that he didn't believe it. "We're just going to let me do the teaching here today, alright?"

Luna looked like she wanted to say more, but she just settled for a childish, "Fine."

Mikan smiled to herself. She was glad that Luna had still kept in touch with her childhood while so many others had somehow let theirs go, despite the fact that it could get to be a little too much sometimes. It made her aunt a lot more approachable and fun than most adults, and Mikan liked that a lot.

"But only if we get to do it here," Luna said smugly and Kazu's mouth twitched into a small frown. Then Mikan realized why. It was probably because if he taught here, the 'business' atmosphere he most likely set up every time he gave a lecture would probably be null. Kazu nodded anyway, and – unable to contain it anymore – Mikan laughed at the two adults' antics.

Mikan and Luna settled themselves on the couch and Kazu stayed standing. It seemed he still wanted to keep whatever semblance of a teaching atmosphere he could.

"Mikan, you come from not only one, but two very powerful magic bloodlines," he started. "But today we're only going to talk about one, the one whose power you've inherited. I have the ability to detect a person's magic affinity when I see them or see their picture. You have the incredibly rare 'zero' affinity, like your father. You can 'zero out', or nullify any magic that targets you so you choose. The reason why Narumi's magic wouldn't work on you is because your magic makes you completely immune to the 'hormonal' affinity."

"The 'hormonal' affinity?" Mikan didn't hesitate to ask. Asking questions was how you learned, fifty percent of the time. Her mother had taught her that, and it hadn't failed Mikan yet.

"Yup, the 'hormonal' affinity. The ones with this affinity are the exact kind of people you wouldn't want to mess with," Luna continued even after Kazu had sent her a chilling glare. "See, your brain signals your body with tons of different hormones. People with the hormonal affinity can alter the hormones in your body to do anything they want. They can literally make you break out, super hungry, or extremely restless. They can make you super happy, super depressed – suicidal even, super angry. They can make you short forever or freakishly tall so that you never stop growing. You name it, they can do it. They can even affect their own hormones to make themselves more appealing to others – pheromone magic. Really Mikan, you don't want to get on their bad side. Thankfully, they're probably as rare as you are. Narumi is the first to appear in over fifty years, I heard. You're pretty lucky that you're immune to him. Well, it's not like that theatre-obsessed freak would do anything anyway."

Stealing the spotlight back, Kazu said, "Yes, Luna. Thank you for going completely off track." Luna smiled brightly.

"Alright Mikan. Because of certain problems rising, this country isn't exactly that safe anymore."

"What sort of problems?" Mikan asked, going into a sort of 'student' mode.

"Well, there's a lot of border conflict and some wrong-doing organizations – like gangs – in the east, pirates in the west where the coast is, and there are rumors of some dragon tribes in the north getting restless because humans are rising a lot in power and number," Mikan could tell he was lamenting the lack of something. He probably had something set up for her to reference to but didn't have it because he was here. Mikan suddenly felt bad. "You're lucky you come from the south. It's a relatively peaceful area. Well, until the gang problems spread to there, that is. Anyway, the world isn't exactly that safe anymore. So we set up these classes to help. They're –"

"Classes?"

"Yes, classes. I was getting to that," a little annoyed yet doing brilliantly in not showing it, he continued." Classes were developed to teach magical defense – and offense, in case the situation becomes impossible to run away from. Of course –"

"Wait. So…we have to – fight?" Mikan asked, puzzled.

A little forced, Kazu said, "I was getting to that, Mikan. Obviously, there are people with certain affinities that are different than others. For ex–"

"Like what?"

Kazu clenched his teeth. He took a breath to calm down, but it only helped a bit. "I was _getting to that_, Mikan. Some affinities are more for attacking – like flame or strength – so those were put in the offensive group. Others are more for convenience – like healing or mind-reading – so those go in the supportive group. On the –"

"Why are they put in groups?"

"I was getting to that, Mikan!" Kazu finally snapped. Luna snickered beside the now bewildered Mikan. She was enjoying the little question tirade. A little bit better now, Kazu continued, "On the first day of school, an offensive student and a supportive student are assigned to be partners for the year. Once a week, they go on 'missions' in the training area. The –"

"Are we gonna be going on some sort of super-spy missions?"

Kazu's fists clenched. Now you could visibly tell he was trying to calm himself down, which was something. Luna snickered again. "Can you just save the questions for when I'm done, Mikan?" He said through his teeth. Oblivious that she was the reason why he was like this, Mikan nodded. Kazu exhaled in relief.

"To answer your question – no. The missions are more like training scenarios on how things might go in real life. We – the teachers – would set up certain obstacles and the offensive and supportive students would have to work together to clear them. Mikan, you'll be in the supportive group. Your magic is still new to us, but there's no way you'd be in the offensive group." Kazu released a bracing sigh. "Now, do you have any questions?"

"Just one," Mikan said, shifting in her seat so she sat up straighter. "I just thought of it now, actually. These problems sound like they're really far away. I mean, the Academy of Magic is in the center of Alberra. I know that students come from all around the country, but we should be relatively safe here. So why do we have all of these classes?"

Luna stopped snickering and Kazu's eyes narrowed. It looked like Mikan caught onto something. The two adults exchanged glances and Kazu nodded. Luna turned to Mikan, for the first time today looking very serious. Needless to say, it unnerved her.

"Mikan," Luna began slowly. "What you are about to hear, you are to repeat to no one. Not even Hotaru, though knowing her she probably found out long ago. We're only telling you because you're an exception. Understand?" Mikan nodded, wide-eyed. She gulped loudly, wondering if Luna could hear it from where she sat. She mentally hit herself for getting off-track yet again and focused her attention back on her aunt.

"For a while now, there's been – something. It's interfered with patrols on borders and with supply carrying caravans, but lately… it's been getting stronger. Not too long ago, a team carrying supplies to a military camp not too far from the capitol disappeared. When they were finally found again, they were all slaughtered," Mikan gasped. Luna grabbed her hand in sympathy, but kept her serious persona.

"This has happened three times already, in all different parts of the country so we can't pinpoint where it comes from. But that's not all. A couple of weeks ago, communication completely stopped from a village near the north, again not too far from the capitol. When a team was sent there, they found the village completely deserted. But there was something there, too. Something in the air. It was – dark. Evil. When the team came back, they were really shaken up about it. It took a while for them to even talk. This happened again, just last week. But this time, the first team we sent didn't come back. And the one that did… they went insane." Mikan covered her mouth in shock. The hand holding Luna's tightened.

"Incidents like these have been happening more frequently," Kazu took on from where Luna left off. "The high council and the military have been getting more and more desperate with each one. Because I'm principal of the high school division for the Academy, I get to come to their meetings sometimes. The military leaders have been hinting more and more to using more mages. Despite how big this world seems, Mikan, there aren't as many mages as there are non-mages. We're overwhelmingly outnumbered. Which means they're going to target younger and younger people to help them."

Kazu looked her in the eye. "In other words – the Academy's students." This was much worse than Mikan thought it would be. Much, much worse. "I don't have any power in the high council. I can only observe what they do because there's a chance I might be there someday." Kazu punched the wall and Mikan jumped. "I can't let these students go out there like that! They're not ready! But the military doesn't seem like it wants to change it's mind any time soon and I can't do anything to convince them otherwise, so I decided to do only what I could. I developed the classes to help our students fight. It doesn't really mean much, but if it helps reduce the – damage done to students at least a little bit, then the classes will stay."

Mikan caught the way he'd carefully said the word 'damage' – like he was avoiding saying something else that he definitely didn't want to say. Mikan gulped.

Luna suddenly shot up and pulled Mikan with her. "Enough of this bad talk! Let's have some fun already!"

Mikan again thanked the heavens Luna had as much childish tenacity as she did. As Luna dragged her out the door, Mikan briefly saw Stella poking her head out of Mikan's bedroom. She sent an apologetic smile in her direction and hoped the cat saw it. Luna opened the door and standing there was a shocked Sumire with a fist hovering in the air to knock. Luna pushed passed her and Sumire followed with Kazu trailing behind.

"Why did a teacher and the high school _principal_ just come out of your room?" Sumire interrogated, trying to keep up with the fast pace that Luna had set while walking through the common room.

"Er, I'm kind of – related to them," Mikan said, trying to 'keep the peace' as she liked to put it. She was starting to realize a lot of situations made her try to 'keep the peace' around Sumire. She could be rather…explosive.

"You're _related_ to them?" Sumire said disbelievingly. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Uhm, it never really came to mind," Mikan said, finding a new appreciation for the cat currently waiting for her return in her dorm.

Then Luna stopped and whirled around, as if finally realizing that Sumire was with them. Before Luna could ask, Mikan said, "This is Sumire Shouda. She's a friend of mine."

"Ah, so this is one of Mikan's friends?" Mikan and Sumire nodded. "Well, any friend of Mikan's is a friend of mine!" Luna quickly grabbed Sumire's hand and started dragging both of them, much to their protest. Kazu shook his head behind them but didn't make a move to stop the strange elementary school teacher either.

ξAжCζ

Mikan laughed at something Luna had said. So far in her "Grand Tour le Academy", Mikan had been shown the training area, where the missions took place, the mess hall, the elementary, middle, and high school buildings, along with their dorms, the gym (with a swimming pool included!), the outside of a place called Central Town that was just outside the Academy where students and civilians alike could shop, and now they were in the university division. Currently, they – meaning her, Sumire, Luna, and Kazu – were in the only ones in the university's garden. Mikan liked it immediately upon seeing it. It was just like a castle courtyard, with all kinds of beautiful, vibrant flowers arranged with purpose.

After everyone sobered up from Luna's joke, she suddenly shot up and said, "Come to think of it, where's Hotaru? I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"You saw Hotaru?" Mikan asked, keeping a hand on her hurting stomach from laughing so much.

"Yup," Luna said with a shining smile that Mikan learned to associate with trouble long ago. "I taught her the importance of money and blackmail. With her love for information, she'd be the perfect blackmailing machine!"

Mikan paled. She was right. Hotaru did like to be as informed as possible, and she already like money enough as it was. Knowing the inventor's money-loving ways, life was about to get a lot harder from now on.

"Luna," Kazu finally spoke up after silently watching them since they left the dorms. "It's time to go."

"Eh? But where not done talking yet," Luna said in dismay. A glare from Kazu set her in the right path and she got up to hug Mikan and Sumire.

"I'll see you two later!" Luna brought the both of them in a hug and squeezed the life out of them at the same.

"O-okay," Mikan and Sumire barely whispered. Mikan thought she heard something in her back crack. As Luna released the both of them, they took in huge lungfuls of air. Oblivious, Luna waved and walked away. Kazu stood there, almost saying something but deciding not to and he just nodded, following after Luna.

"Mikan, your aunt is weird," Sumire plopped down on the stone bench and Mikan sat next to her.

"She's always been like that," Mikan reached into her mini-jacket pocket to take out the little glass flower that she and Hotaru both had one of. "You get used to her over the years. Or at least fake it, because she won't stop even if you point it out to her."

Sumire smiled wryly. "And which one do you do?"

"A little bit of both," Mikan admitted, twirling the flower so like the ones surrounding her, only much more permanent.

Sumire chuckled and then peered curiously at the object in Mikan's hands. "What's that?"

Mikan brought it up for her to see. "It's a glass flower I bought with Hotaru in Romahn. She has one too."

"Wow," Sumire brought her hand out and Mikan gave her the glass flower so she could inspect it. "I've never been to Romahn, even if it is practically the shopping capitol of the country. I've always wanted to go there."

Mikan smiled and took the flower back. "Maybe the next time we go there, we'll take you along! And then you could meet my mom."

Next to her, Sumire sniffed. She uncharacteristically looked down rather than look straight at Mikan while talking. "What's…what's it like having a mom?"

Mikan's eyes widened, feeling strangely young. "You don't have one…?"

Sumire shook her head. "Mine died when I was really little. I barely remember her. I only know her from the stories my dad and older brother told me."

Mikan laid her hand over Sumire's, determined to give her the best she could. "Well, my mom is my best friend. Even after my dad died," at this, Sumire stiffened, "she always tried her best with me. She's wise and caring and always knows just what to say. She's kind and always gives out a helping hand, especially to kids. She taught me a lot about life. I guess…she just makes me feel really warm and cared for. Like I don't need to worry, because everything's going to be just fine."

Slightly mortified, Mikan brought up the hand that wasn't holding Sumire's to her face to realize – she was crying. She wiped her eyes, willing for the tears to stop. "I guess I miss her more than I realized," she said, laughing a bit.

"It's okay, you can cry. Bottling it all up will get you nowhere," Sumire said, acting a little more like her strong self that Mikan thought might have come from only having a father and brother in her family. She took her hand from Mikan and reached into her own pocket to hand her a napkin.

Mikan accepted it with a grateful smile and wiped her face. "Yes, but crying about it all the time won't get me anywhere either. I'll just have to move on with life."

Sumire speculated her from her seat. "Did your mom teach you that?"

Mikan nodded. "Yeah. I never would have thought that I'd need what she taught me so much when I came here. Especially with Stella…"

Sumire's hand fisted in her lap while her other hand grabbed onto the stone of the bench. "Mikan, I have something to tell you. You know, magic has it's own scent. It's a little bit sweet and barely there, but I can smell it. It comes off from all of the kids here, even you. But it's especially strong on all of the cendies. I don't know why, but it's as if they're magic itself. It's weird. And…I could smell it off of Stella." Mikan stiffened. "She's not really a normal cat, is she?"

Mikan let out a laugh. "Looks like you caught me. I'm not even sure if she is a cat. She can _talk_, for gaia's sake! And she introduced herself to me in a dream! She called herself my guardian, too. I have a feeling she's been a guardian for people for a long time, longer than we've ever even lived. But when I tried to get anything else out of her, she wouldn't tell me. I – it's all just really crazy, isn't it?"

Sumire nodded. "It is crazy, but I believe you. My nose doesn't lie."

"Sorry for hiding it," Mikan said sheepishly. "It's just – I didn't want everyone to think I belonged in the nuthouse with all the other crazies in the world."

Sumire laughed and patted her shoulder. "Mikan – in the world of magic, there'll be a lot of crazy things that you'd think should be impossible and yet there they are, right in front of you. You'll have to get used to it."

Mikan shook her head good-naturedly. "I don't think I ever will."

Sumire then patted something on her collar. "Did you get all of that, Hotaru?"

Mikan was surprised to hear Hotaru's voice come out from Sumire's collar. "Loud and clear."

At Mikan's questioning look, Sumire glared at nothing. "Why did Luna have to teach Hotaru to blackmail? Now she has all – _that_, and as soon as I told that ice queen what I got out of Stella she made me find out from you. Why couldn't she have done it herself?"

"Because I have better things to do. I'm a busy person."

Sumire yelped and jumped about a foot in the air. "You were listening?"

"Yes. The pictures stay with me. For now. And you owe me 20 gold," Hotaru's voice sounded weirdly static through whatever device Sumire had on her collar. Mikan didn't recall it, but she could tell it was quite useful.

"What for?" Again, Sumire glared at that particular spot, as if it could reach Hotaru from there.

"You don't want me to leak out those photos, do you?"

"No…"

"Then I expect the money by tomorrow."

Sumire almost threw whatever was hidden in her collar but then Hotaru's voice stopped her. "If you break my speaker/audio recorder, you'll have to pay for it. And it's 200 gold because it's one in a set that can't function without it."

Sumire got up and angrily stomped her foot. "Sorry Mikan, I'm gonna have to give that blackmailing queen her money. You'll be alright here?"

Mikan nodded. She wondered what the pictures were, but judging from Sumire's reaction as she walked – more like stomped – away, she thought it'd be better not to know. Mikan sighed and shook her head. Of course Hotaru would get straight to making their lives just that much harder as soon as she saw it involved money. Mikan stood up and decided to look around all of the flowers. Maybe she could recognize some of them. Her mother had taught her a little bit about flowers as well, but they never really got much into it. Mikan decided this would be her favorite spot in the entire academy so far. It was calm and quiet and provided her with a kind of solace she didn't think she'd have here, which she treasured very much and was grateful for. Searching the flowers planted on the ground, a particular bundle caught her eye.

"Feather flowers!" Mikan exclaimed. The pink bundle of _astilbe_, or "feather flowers" reminded her of home. Her mother used to love those, because the fluffy foliage made her think of bird feathers – birds were her favorite animals.

They also reminded Mikan of a song that her mother used to sing to her whenever she had a bad nightmare. It always helped her then. Mikan looked at her surroundings. She didn't spot anyone so she figured – why not? She started singing the song that her mother did so long ago. It always held special in Mikan's heart. Her mother had told her it was a song about two people that went on a great journey to get something back. They battled through the darkness and won, finding the light and each other in the end. Thinking about the song's meaning made the romanticist in her giddy so she butchered the song into making it sound more carefree and hopped onto the stone bench and started dancing – or just flailing her legs and arms in the air, but Mikan was never much of a dancer anyways.

And blood-red eyes stared at her from a distance.

ξAжCζ

"Hey-Hey! It's time for Xuly's Corner!" Xuly jumped onto his high stool. "Where Xuly graces all with his greatness!"

Xuly summoned his pointer from thin air and pointed it to a map tacked to the wall.

"This is Gaia, Mikan's planet. There are four continents. Here's the first continent, where Mikan lives," he pointed to the land mass on the right, "the second continent, which is famous for having a lot of tropical areas in the south," he pointed to the land mass on the left, across the ocean, "the third continent, where it's said to be really cold," he pointed to the land mass above the two of them, separated by water, "and here's the fourth continent. It's said to be really hot down there, filled with a bunch of desert," he pointed to the land mass below all of them. "It's really mysterious because it was only recently discovered. Right now, only a bunch of dragon tribes live there."

Xuly twirled the pointer and tapped his head with his free ear curiously. "I wonder what they do in such a hot place all the time… Let's find out!"

His pointer disappeared and he clapped his ears, and suddenly a huge poster rolled down behind him. It was a poster of a giant red dragon with fire coming out of it's mouth chasing a smaller purple dragon, with a big, rocky canyon behind them.

Xuly stared in horror. "C-cannibalism? No, it looks like they're – training? For what? Does it have to do with what Kazu –"

Xuly's ear's shot up and he turned around, comically looking like his ears were attached to the dragon's nose. "Xuly has been prevented from giving you this spoiler to give you," he gasped, "the preview!"

"Stella remains tight-lipped about her past and no matter what Mikan does, she can't get anything out of her. Meanwhile, Hotaru's working on a new invention to help get some answers. And what is this? Ew, a pervert enters the picture! Tune in next time on **Aduro's Chosen: Polka-Dots.**"

_A/N: Is that who I think it is? Kyaaa! I love Natsume! Oh, and fanfiction kinda has a policy against putting in song lyrics that aren't yours 'cause the website's disclaimer doesn't cover songs so I didn't put it in there. I wasn't really sure what song Mikan was singing anyway, but I had _Ring Your Song_ from _Tsubasa Chronicles OST_ in mind. It fit Mikan's description best, I guess. Or maybe I just couldn't find any others that did._

_And my new favorite quote is "I was getting to that, Mikan!"_


End file.
